Banks to provide easy and secure online identity authentication

Banks will soon be offering an online service allowing their clients to prove their identities to other organisations. Clients who opt for this service will be able use their own bank’s familiar and secure login applications to identify themselves, for example to insurance companies, government authorities and webshops. They will not need to request and remember separate access codes.

Consumers in control

Banks must have express consent from the consumer to provide organisations with the data needed to authenticate his or her identity: the consumer retains full control of what information is supplied to what parties. Nor does this information need to be the same for each organisation – for example, the bank may ask permission to pass on the client’s name and place of residence to one company, and the client’s date of birth to another.

Online assurance about identity

With digital services on the rise, companies and institutions are experiencing a growing need for assurance about the identities of their online customers and users. To take out an insurance policy, for example, the consumer must provide an official identifying document. Banks can offer this assurance, having previously authenticated the identity of each client opening a bank account.

Pilots with consumers

The first pilots with clients using their bank’s login tools to prove their identities to other organisations will begin early in 2016. The process will be conducted under the direction of the Dutch Payments Association. The pilots will involve an insurance company and the Dutch Tax & Customs Administration. Further pilots with other companies and institutions might also be conducted next year.

The banks’ shared service will be made available to the broader market after the experiences of consumers and organisations in these pilots have been analysed. Banks’ clients will then be able to opt for the ease-of-use and security of their own bank’s login methods to prove their identities on various websites.